CELEBRITY TALES......AS I REMEMBER THEM: DEEPAK CHOPRA

During my career, whenever I interviewed anyone with any semblance of celebrity, I would ask them to record an “endorsement” when we were done. It's a pretty common practice among radio folk and it was always a great way to give you some credibility with the audience, not to mention how much of an ego blast it is to hear, say, one of the Beatles or a former President telling your entire audience that, “whenever they are in town.....they listen to (your name here).” I have had the remarkable opportunity to spend a lot of years talking to a lot of people, some of whom were of substantial note and I got some very nifty “voicers.” How cool was it to hear people like Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner or George Burns saying they listened to you? I even got Dan Castellanetta to do a “Homer drool” to illustrate how enjoyable he found the show. The best of all, however, was the celebrity who never spoke my name but whose “drop” was used more than any other - New Age and alternative-medicine advocate, physician, public speaker, writer Deepak Chopra. In studio interviews were, pretty much, all done the same way. We would welcome the guest, offer them some coffee or, perhaps, a vending machine goody from, what we called, “The Dead Break Cafe,” which was, in reality, just a break room down the hall with candy and chips in machines and coffee pots loaded with what we knew as “fuel,” and, then, sit them down in a chair across the console from me. There was no engineer......I ran things myself. This was a practice I preferred because I was always a bit of a stickler when it came to the sound of my show. I wanted the production to be seamless and spotless. If there was an issue, I would know it was because I screwed up, not because someone else couldn't hear the “audio vision” in my head. If there was a problem – I would be responsible. I work better like that. Deepak Chopra was a new age guru who, at the time we had him in the studio, was a very influential voice. Quantum Healing, Distance Healing, Mind/Body Medicine.....but, that was just the tip of the iceberg. Aside from being an important critical thinker and doctor, he is an extremely versatile human being. In 2009 he founded the Chopra Foundation to promote and research holistic medicine; the Foundation sponsors annual Sages and Scientists conferences. He sits on the board of advisors of a national medical foundation, he's been involved with a tech start-up - state.com, since 2005 he has been a board member of, believe it or not, Mens Warehouse, a mens clothing distributor where, you'll look good and HE now “guarantees it,” and in 2006 launched Virgin Comics with his son, Gotham Chopra (the doc was apparently a huge fan of either New York City or Batman or both) and entrepreneur Richard Branson. There isn't much Dr. Chopra doesn't do. He sat in the chair opposite me and, I will have to admit, I was a bit in awe. I have met a lot of people over the years and, occasionally, I would get a little “star struck.” That type of reaction, however, was reserved for a select few......Deepak Chopra, Carl Sagan and Pres. Jimmy Carter come immediately to mind. We chatted for a few minutes and were about to get to the point where I expected the “hot line” to ring and the boss to remind me that this was a “music station” and that I was neglecting the most important element of the concept but, honestly, what Deepak Chopra had to say was far more interesting and entertaining than some Air Supply song being played for the 500th time that week because “it tested well in Helena.” I knew and understood the rules, though and I had to play a song. I grabbed the next song in the rotation and started the intro, over which I explained that we would get back to the fascinating conversation but, first, we had to play some music and I introduced Fleetwood Mac, at which point, Deepak (by this time we were on a first name basis) said, in his unmistakable Indian accent, “Lets, rock & roll!” I was dumbstruck as my mouth hit the floor. Deepak Chopra had just said, “Let's rock & roll” and I had recorded it. Now, every time I played something that was a bit on the “heavy,” rocky side, I had one of the world's great thinkers telling us it was time for all of us to rock & roll. That was tantamount to having Mick Jagger shout out to the crowd, “Everybody – meditate!” Completely unexpected and very satisfying. I used it sparingly over the ensuing years, understanding that those things can get very old very quickly. My philosophy was: use it a little, drop it for a while, bring it back some other time for a short period, retire it for a while.........keep a rotation of “drops” available to give the impression of “fresh and new,” even if it's old and stale. I never had the opportunity to repeat my meeting with the good doctor, although, I've seen any number of TV appearances over the years and have been able to rest in the knowledge that, no matter how much he has evolved over the years or how much more profound his train of thought has become, Deepak Chopra was never one to shy away from his love for or his ability to – rock & roll!

SIMPLICITY

We live in a world of convolution……and yes, it is a word. We have learned, over the years, that the more steps something takes, the more satisfied we are with our results. We sometimes even show a tendency of taking the long way from point a. to point b. because it then makes it seem as if we've accomplished a great feat when, in reality, it's probably as easy as....oh, I don't know……going from point a. to point b. I have a tendency to get lost, however, if there are more than two or three steps. That's why I always have parts left over when I put stuff together. The instructions are just too complicated, even if it's the right way to do it. I am always looking for the easy way out. And yet, I never seem to think in simple terms when it comes to trying to solve a problem. It seems more thorough to consider all possible solutions or angles that will lead to one. One day recently, I picked up the phone and heard no dial tone. Immediately, I panicked and began to imagine all of the scenarios as to why the phone wasn't working. I began to go over my checklist of things that could have gone wrong. First, I checked the other phones in the house and, sure enough, they were all silent. My first instinct, since we have our phones bundled with the tv and computers on our cable system, was to curse the cable company and all of it's perceived incompetence. That I did well. Then I tried turning on the tv. It worked as did the computers. It was not a signal problem. My next step was to use a little trick the cable guy taught me the last time all of my communication with the outside world was cut off. I went to the modem, pulled out the battery, unplugged it (both of which seemed to turn off the power) and counted to thirty. I suspect twenty nine would not be enough time and thirty one would be too much, so at thirty, on the dot, I plugged it back in and reinstalled the battery, or was it the other way around, I never can remember the order of that step. Needless to say, the phones were still dead. Must've hit the thirty one second mark. Now it was time to call the cable company on my cell phone so I could get one of their crack telephone associates to walk me through whatever steps I had to take to get my phones back. The guy with the foreign accent named Chip (or was it Teddy) told me to find the phone jack on the back of the modem and follow the cord to where it plugged in to the wall. To do that I had to move the desk and the bed and the dresser in my daughter's room. That's where the cord went. When I got to the other end, I realized that all of the furniture rearranging was totally unnecessary as the phone jack for the room was on the wall under the window. I really didn't need the help by way of following the little grey "yellow brick road" that lead me to the wall jack. It was when I reached my final destination, however, that I realized how in vain the entire day had been. That was where I pushed the plug back into the wall socket, picked up the phone and called the cable company back to thank Chip or Teddy for his expert assistance, all the while thinking in the back of my mind, "Next time, idiot, just check the plug." I have, since, invested in a "smart" phone. One that is, ultimately, quite a bit smarter than I am. The next time I forget to connect our land line, all I have to do is tell my "smart" phone to "call the cable company" so that Chip or Teddy can remind me to check the plug. Now, if I could only tell my "smart" phone to do actual "plugging," I can even cut out the middle man, whether it is Chip OR Teddy. Simplicity……in thought and deed……It can make life a whole lot easier.